


The Saga of the Swarthy Seven

by Stewbacca94



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abduction, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Battle Scenes, Multi, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28286313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stewbacca94/pseuds/Stewbacca94
Summary: When Vale's crown princess is abducted suddenly by a mysterious force with nefarious plans, it ultimately falls to one of her guards and a handful of rangers and adventurers to rescue the young woman. However shall they fare?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Lie Ren, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose/Nora Valkyrie, Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Pervenire

* * *

The isle of Patch was a sight worth beholding in the morning sunlight, with the forest air turning a shade of tangerine due to the translucent autumnal leaves hanging from the canopy. When the sun scored an arc through the window of a mid-sized cabin, a pair of short, lithe young women began to arise from their slumber.

The first to rise sprinted towards the combined bathroom and laundry to wash and dress herself. Combing her short cap of ginger hair furiously first, she rinsed her naked body clean with a soaked towel. After shaking herself dry, she donned her white tunic and matching thigh-high socks and strode out to the main room. As her younger partner rubbed the sleep from her grey eyes, the ginger woman threw on her salmon-hued, knee-length leather dress, and began to enter her brown, knee-high leather boots when the younger woman spoke to her.

“Ah; good morning, Nora!”

Nora turned to her lover of three years and beamed. “It's even better now you're awake, Ruby.”

The younger woman giggled, noticing that her grey midget wolf was still enraptured in slumber. “Well, it'll be peaceful before Zwei gets up, at least. Could you feed him while I get dressed, Nora-bear?”

Nora nodded calmly. “On it, Little Red.”

Ruby emerged from the covers demurely, showing no shame in walking naked past her lover. After bathing, Ruby dried and picked out her hunting gear. Due to the forest trees usually bearing leaves of red and orange and trunks bedecked in blackened bark, her camouflage outfit (and Nora's combat garb) differed from the usual garb Vale's Rangers wore. In short order, Ruby adorned her slight frame with black boots and britches, along with a white blouse and red corset.

Her red, hooded cloak was the capstone to the piece, bearing the holsters for Waning Crescent and Scarlet Rose. These were her white and red handguns which she had earned on graduation, and they took pride of place within her cloak along with their suppressors. Finally, Ruby unhooked her mother's sniper rifle, Oculus Argentum, and held it ready to protect her island. Walking out to the main room, Ruby saw that Nora had roused Zwei from his slumber and given him his morning meal. Ruby locked the door behind the three of them, setting off for their morning patrol on the northern coastline.

Nora now held her trusty warhammer, Magnhild, in both hands. A pair of symbols were etched on both sides of the hammerhead. One side had a small flame, while the other featured a leaf. Such was Nora's calling as a Naturalist; fire and earth magics were hers to command through the hammer, along with the ability to shapeshift into one given animal. In her case, Nora Valkyrie could become a grizzly bear with pink fur at will.

Ruby, meanwhile, had followed in her mother's footsteps and trained as a Tracker. These swarthy survivalists focused on ranged weaponry, hunting and beast husbandry, and plenty of them served in the ranks of Vale's standing army and border patrol force, the latter of which were colloquially called the Rangers. Patch was large enough to warrant six full-time Rangers working the north, west and south coasts, with a small detachment of the Valean army defending and maintaining the eastern port-town of Pervenire. The west coast was manned by Taiyang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen; they were Ruby's Pugilist father and Blademaster honorary uncle, respectively. The southern beat was protected by the Naturalist/Corsair duo that had raised and trained Nora. Bart Oobleck and Peter Port, they were called.

However, the north was more treacherous and had dangerous wildlife - a fact never heeded by Ruby's mother until it killed her. This was one of two reasons why Ruby considered herself fortunate to have worked with Nora over the last three years. The other reason was that Naturalists usually made excellent partners to Trackers, not least because Naturalists could speak in the language of animals, thus helping train the companions their partners harboured.

* * *

Before long, Zwei started growling at a point two kilometres north-west of their patrolling trail. Ruby turned to look, but Nora's enhanced sense of smell did the legwork first.

“A fire by the rocky beach, I wager.”

Ruby nodded. “Shall we investigate? There could be a shipwreck there or something.”

“Fine. But we'll keep it quick; we need to finish our patrol, then get some things in town.”

The three ran at full sprint towards the sandbar, now spying the smoke in the air as they closed in on the target. As they arrived at the fire, Ruby and Nora stared in stunned silence. Sitting over the bonfire was a tall, massively-built blonde woman who wore simple, gold-hued pants and a matching tunic. She was praying with a thin, black-haired man who wore verdant versions of the same clothes, no doubt blessing the large tuna they'd caught and cooked. When they finished, Ruby and Nora ran over to them with arms outstretched.

“Yang!”

“Rennie!”

Yang Xiao Long and Lie Ren were startled upon hearing the cries, but turned in time to embrace their sisters.

“You finally graduated from the monastery!”, Ruby yelled as she ran into Yang. “A fully-fledged Pugilist in less time than I expected! Well _done_ , sis!”

“Aw, thanks Rubes! We were only two months away from graduating before we got approved by special dispensation.”

Meanwhile, Ren spoke calmly to his adopted sister while she bear-hugged him.

“It is good to see you well, Nora.”

“And _look at you_ , Mr. Clergyman! I'm amazed you did it! The town's been needing a new preacher for a few weeks now.”

“That's true; Signal Monastery did ask me and Yang to help fill the void, now that the town elders are due to select a new preacher.” At that moment, Ren's stomach growled loudly. “But before I discuss business, I dare say we need to eat.”

“Yeah, let's dig in!”, Yang concurred.

The fish they'd cooked was probably the best Ruby and Nora had devoured in a while. They eagerly tore into their unexpected breakfasts, savouring the succulence of the tuna, and listened raptly at the stories Yang and Ren told them about their time at the Monastery.

“So how come a pacifist group like Signal take an interest in training Pugilists?”, Nora asked innocently.

“Well,” Yang replied, “our order isn't completely pacifistic. While our monastery does train most applicants to become Clergymen, they also train the strongest applicants into becoming Pugilists, who protect those Clergymen who travel all over the place to preach. I was given the offer upon arrival and accepted gladly. After we finished, Ren and I were sent here to work.”

“Speaking of,” Ren interjected, “we should get going to Pervenire. We'll need to meet with the town elders, and you two usually shop there after your patrol.”

“Agreed. Let's do the patrol, then go into town,” Ruby affirmed.

* * *

When the four walked into Pervenire three hours later, there was a disturbance of the peace taking place near the town gates. A pair of young women were tied to a stake, which itself was surrounded by a pyre. Eight men in black dress and bone masks fended off the advance of any townsfolk who tried to intervene, and one of them held a torch and yelled to all within earshot.

“This is what we do to Summoners, Mesmers and their sympathisers! The White Fang will hunt spellcasters and their enablers down when the pathetic Rangers refuse to mete out justice to them!”

He never got to lower his torch, due to the fact that the fire on said torch suddenly spread to his entire body, courtesy of one angry Naturalist. As he ran off screaming and soiling himself, the rest of the Fang's operatives were set upon by Yang, Nora, and Ruby, while Ren leapt onto the pyre and freed the two women.

“Get to cover while you can, ladies. We'll handle these fiends.”

The women, one black-haired cat Faunus and one white-haired human, nodded mutely and ran to a distance.

As Ren stood between the two women and their kidnappers and readied his staff, Yang's bare fists and Nora's warhammer made short work of the White Fang belligerents, while Ruby went around knee-capping those who tried to flee. It was over almost as soon as it started, with the Pervenire division of the army coming quickly to apprehend the White Fang members and Ren healing his friend's wounds with the powers of the Light God.

As the Fang were marched off, Ren approached the two women with Ruby, Nora and Yang behind him. “Who are you, and how come this happened?”

“I'm Weiss, and I'm a Stormcaller,” the white-haired one responded with an aristocratic Atlesian accent. "I was practising my craft on the coast outside this place at dawn when the Fang found me. On returning to their hideout, they caught this black-haired Corsair over here trying to free me, then tied her and myself to this stake, dragging us along the ground when we did."

“We'll need to return to that cave too,” the Corsair added, her accent marking her as a native of Menagerie, “because they stashed our weapons back there. Could you escort us there?”

Ren looked at his friends, who nodded in unison. “I believe we can. Before we go, what are you called?”

A shy smile materialised on the cat Faunus's face when her response came.

“Blake.”

Upon entering the cave fifteen minutes later, Blake quickly found Gambol and Shroud – her purple-tinted katana and pistol, along with her black leather armour, and Weiss's sword and lightning-proof robe. "They haven't destroyed them!", she called out as she exited the cave. Weiss was then handed her robe and her rapier, Myrtenaster. In her line of expertise, weapons served as lightning-rods for the powers of the Stormcaller – both literally and figuratively. Therefore, she had no qualms about using a weapon completely forged of metal for her uses – even if she specialised in snowstorms over thunderstorms.

Blake, meanwhile, had donned her black leather armour and was examining Gambol and Shroud for any marks or damage. The former weapon hadn't lost any sharpness, though the latter would need to be reloaded once she got back to town. She holstered Shroud on her left hip, but kept Gambol drawn in case of incidence.

“I don't know about the Stormcaller,” she stated upon rejoining the group, “but I'll need to get to the smithy in Pervenire for ammunition – the swines dumped my earth Dust rounds in the woods.”

“I'll do the same, actually,” Weiss responded. “They emptied the Dust powder I use for my craft.”

“We'll be glad to escort you two back to town,” Ren promised. “Our blacksmith's accredited by the Vale Mercantile Guild, so you'll be in good hands. Will you two need to stay overnight, though?”

“Probably not,” Blake admitted. “We'll take the last ferry to Vale City, then report this incident to the Adventurer's Guild branch at Vale City. We'll stay there tonight.”

“Very well,” Ren said calmly. "But if things change, there will be space in my temple for you two for tonight."

Weiss and Blake smiled politely. “Thanks for the offer, Ren,” the former said calmly.

* * *

At one-thirty, the group of six entered Unlimited Blade Works at the west end of Pervenire. Weiss and Blake were surprised to say least when the blacksmith emerged from the forging area in the back; instead of the traditional hulking beast of a man, they were greeted by a demure, svelte brunette girl with a pair of large rabbit ears.

“Hey guys!” the rabbit Faunus said merrily. “How are you all doing?”

“Just great, Velvet,” Ruby responded. “You still planning on wedding and bedding Coco?”

Velvet showed a ring that was hung on a chain around her neck.

“You bet I am! We're planning it for autumn, and the four of you are certainly invited.”

“That's lovely to hear, Velv!”, Yang enthused.

“Anyway,” Velvet continued, “what brings you all here?”

Weiss and Blake stepped forward at this point. “We got rescued from the Fang by your friends here today,” Blake began calmly. “And since our weapons had their lightning, ice, and earth Dust cartridges emptied, we need to replace those before heading to the Guild in Vale City.”

“Understood,” Velvet responded as Weiss handed the weapons over, along with a written note detailing the specifics. Reading the note, Velvet's eyebrows and rabbit ears shot upright. “This will take a couple of hours to prepare, so I'd suggest you head next door to wait. Coco, my fiance, has a bakery with indoor dining to accommodate our long-waiting customers.

“Smart business move,” Weiss remarked under her breath, and the six walked through the door to the right of Velvet's counter. True to Velvet's word, the motley crew found themselves within a bakery. Behind the counter stood a tall, severe brunette staring at the other door. As she turned to face the six, however, she broke into a wide smile.

“Look what we have here!”, Coco started. “Our favourite four Rangers have returned! Velvet sent you guys over?”

“Yeah,” Ruby admitted. “She said it'd take a few hours, so we'll get the group lunch deal.”

“No problem with that,” Coco replied. “What would the six of you like to eat?”

After perusing a handy menu for a minute, the group gave Coco an answer. “So that's two plain pies for Ruby and Nora, one tuna pie for the Corsair, two steak and kidney pies for Yang and Ren and one vegetarian pasty for the Stormcaller. Would a pot of coffee be all right with all of you?”

“Well,” Ruby began, “Nora and Ren would appreciate tea a bit more.”

“As would I, actually,” Blake softly interjected.

“Alright; does a half-pot of each sound good?”, Coco enquired.

Ruby and Blake exchanged glances, then nodded mutely.

“You're on,” the baker replied, “but I'll need an extra Lien for it.”

Ruby nodded again, handing thirty-six Lien over without complaint. Coco placed the cash within her till, then turned towards the kitchen. Ruby and Blake, meanwhile, sat down with their backs to the window at a table. Weiss sat at the head of the table, with Ren opposite her and Yang and Nora seated facing the window. Before long, Coco delivered a tray with the food, followed promptly by a tray with six mugs and two small pots of drink. She'd even thought ahead and added a boat of milk and a sugar tin for taste.

“Enjoy the meal, friends,” Coco sung as she placed the items down upon the table.

“I'm sure we will, Coco,” Yang responded, before linking hands with Ren and Nora. The others took the cue and formed a chain, while Yang said the appropriate blessing.

“By the grace of the Twin Gods, we sanctify and bless the food provided for us, and the providers for making them. Amen.”

“Amen,” the others replied, before beginning to tuck in and shooting the breeze.

* * *

By three-thirty that afternoon, Velvet had finished her work. She yanked a pulley that rang a bell above Coco's position within the cafe.

“Okay, you lot,” she called out to the group. “Velvet's finished her work.”

“Thanks for the meal, Coco,” Ruby said as she jumped out of her seat and ushered the others into the blacksmith. Velvet had all the munitions ready on the counter, along with the itemised bill.

“Coco treat you well?”, the blacksmith asked.

“Absolutely,” Blake replied, examining the newly constructed rounds. “Your craftsmanship was worth the wait, too. I'll happily recommend you two to the Adventurer's Guild in the city; they'd be grateful for your service should they come here for work.”

Velvet blushed. “Thanks! I'm glad Coco and I could do that much for you. It was thirty Lien each for the dust quantities I had to use, so that comes to ninety Lien all up.”

To Blake's surprise, Weiss fished out a hundred Lien from beneath her shirts.

“There's the ninety for the charges, and ten for your labours, Velvet,” Weiss said.

Velvet was shocked at this. “I – I won't forget your generosity, Weiss. Have a great day!”

“You too, Velvet,” Ruby responded before she and the others left the store. Once they started walking towards the main street, Blake's curiosity got the better of her.

“Where'd you get that money?”, she asked Weiss in a whisper.

“Atlas, just before I left,” Weiss replied. “The Fang were too stupid to strip-search me when they captured me.”

Blake shook her head. “What idiots.”

Weiss sniggered. “Indeed.”

When they approached the docks to see Blake and Weiss off on the ferry, the six Adventurers beheld a crowd beginning to gather at the main entrance. They quickly made their way into the centre of the crowd and beheld a tall, blonde man in the azure plate armour of the Royal Guards.

“What's going on?”, Ruby called above the murmur. “We almost never see a Royal Guard on these shores.”

The man turned to face her, and Ruby noticed instantly that he was a Shieldbearer; a defensive fighter who taunted enemies and fought through attrition as his modus operandi. The 4'x2' tower shield in his left hand likely had something to do with her assessment.

“My name is Corporal Jaune Arc, and I bring grave news from the capital. Her Royal Highness Pyrrha Nikos, Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Vale, has been kidnapped by the White Fang. The King is offering a large reward for a group of people to rescue her, and he has placed me in charge of recruiting followers and expediting the mission. Are there any here who can help?”

Immediately, Ruby clasped Jaune's hand. “Come with me. My friends and I would be willing to hear you out.”

* * *

**A/N: Merry Christmas, everyone.**

**I've finally decided to unveil this piece, which takes place in a version of Remnant inspired by World of Warcraft. NGL, I've been sitting on this idea since the end of 2018, and have nearly half the story written so far.**

**There's only eight chapters planned for this one, and I don't have a strict release schedule for this one - I'm intending to release one chapter at the end of each month, if the backlog keeps being written smoothly. Hope this first chapter meets your approval, folks** **.**


	2. Journeying South

* * *

Five minutes later, Jaune was seated in front of the most ragtag bunch of individuals he'd seen, within one of the cleanest public houses he'd been in outside the capital. Ruby spoke to him first.

“How come you came here to seek help, rather than among the Rangers in Vale City?”

“The King's ordered all the mainland Rangers to commence lock-down,” Jaune admitted. Ruby and the others understood the military parlance; their cohorts inland had either beefed up their numbers along the border with Vacuo or the main ports that the other three kingdoms used for trade.

“What do you know of the incident?”, Ren asked.

“Not much to tell, I'm afraid,” Jaune said wearily. “The White Fang had an infiltrator within the palace kitchens – one of the maids, as I recall. She came into the princess's room to hand her a drink, which had been drugged. Once the princess had passed out, the maid and two heavies bundled her out of the castle.”

“How come you know how that happened?”, Weiss interjected.

“Because they were spotted legging it outside the walls by some of the Royal Guards. They gave pursuit, but they were fended off by one of the White Fang's leaders. Some bastard with a red katana.”

Blake paled in response to that, and this was quickly seized on by Jaune.

“You know who he is?”

Blake nodded with a mournful expression. “Unfortunately. He's Adam Taurus, leader of the Valean White Fang. Even the other leaders of the White Fang distrust and fear him, such is his hatred for magic-users – and he's been responsible for the rise in extremist behaviour from the White Fang over the last few years.”

“And you know this how?”, Weiss asked.

Blake leaned in, so no-one outside the table could hear her response. “I … I left the Fang once he took over,” she whispered.

A deathly pall was cast over the table as the other six stared at Blake. The black bow she wore atop her head twitched e'er so slightly as the Corsair trembled in the slurry of condemnation that was set to come from the mouth of the woman she'd risked life and limb to rescue from the Fang. But it never came. Instead, a cold hand was laid on her left shoulder, and Blake looked up to see Weiss's steady gaze.

“Blake, listen to me. You _aren't_ one of _them_ ,” Weiss said firmly. “The fact you tried to save me from them is enough proof that you can be trusted.”

“What of the other Faunus? Like Velvet?”, Blake asked – no, _pleaded_ of her.

“I _don't_ share my homeland's appalling views of Faunus,” Weiss replied gently. “In my view, no one has the right to judge others over things they can't change. Once I earned my Stormcaller's robes and joined the Guild, I cut almost every tie I had with my people and moved to Vale two months ago.”

Mollified by the Atlesian's response, Blake found it in her to smile and nod in acquiescence.

“If we've _quite_ finished with the melodrama,” Yang drawled, “we now know who led the operation. Do you know where the Fang are based?”

“Mountain Glenn.”

Ruby and Nora both spat out their drinks at that, while the others looked _very_ shocked at the information. Finally, Jaune managed to speak.

“How is that even _possible?!_ The Grimm over there are ridiculously dangerous; so much so that King Ozpin XI swore never to settle that place again.”

“True, but there is a small valley near the summit that had housed a monastery when the Twin Gods walked on Remnant,” Yang pointed out. “No Grimm can ever enter holy ground, so it's possible that the Fang have set up a base there and used the mines to conduct raids in Vale City and the surrounding villages.”

“That's exactly what happened,” Blake admitted. “I was with the Fang until that base had finished building. The night the Fang moved into the area, Taurus murdered Sienna Khan in a sudden coup. As soon as I found out, I escaped to Vale City and began to formally train as a Corsair. Once I qualified, I swore vengeance against the White Fang and have disrupted no fewer than three raids in the last two months.”

The rest of the table was visibly impressed.

* * *

After a pause, Jaune decided to finalise the numbers for his task.

“Before I plan this out any further, I'd like to confirm how many of you will join me on this quest. I can safely assume that Blake and Weiss would want a hand in dealing with the White Fang,” he acknowledged as the two women nodded in response, “but do the rest of you wish to aid me in this task?”

“You'll need a Clergyman on hand for this sort of danger, even _if_ you're a Morale Shieldbearer,” Ren noted, “so I'd be willing to aid you.”

“What type of Clergyman are you, by the way?”, Jaune asked.

“Cleansing,” Ren calmly replied. Jaune was relieved to have an active healer on board for this; after all, Turbulent Clergymen were the sort who smote their enemies as opposed to healing their allies, and Encouragement Clergymen tended to buff their allies and prevent damage rather than actively heal it. The latter type of healer wasn't as useful to Jaune, given that Morale Shieldbearers like him had similar abilities.

“I'll come as well,” Nora added. “I'm a Druidic Naturalist, so I can protect Ren while he's healing you and set off some spells as well.”

“That's handy,” Jaune admitted. While Volcanic Naturalists specialised in magma and fire magics and Shamanistic Naturalists held dominion over the earth, Bucolic Naturalists could draw on both types and cast spells while shapeshifted – making them an excellent protector for spell-casters.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other, then nodded. “We'll come with you too,” the latter spoke. “I'm a Duelling Pugilist, while Ruby here's a Marksmanship Tracker.”

“That's great to hear,” Jaune admitted. Knowing full well that Blake was a Subterfuge Corsair and that Weiss was a Snow Stormcaller by their weapons, Jaune was relieved to have some fighters that would fight in close proximity to him. Yang was the sort who punched people with light-infused fists, rather than using her feet or simple weapons like Dancing or Blocking Pugilists. And Ruby's skill with guns was more conducive to group missions than an Archery Tracker's bowmanship, or the traps and whips Camouflage Trackers favoured.

“Now that's been finalised,” Jaune continued, “we can finally get to brass tacks. Blake, based on what you've told us, I assume that you know how to get to the base undetected?”

Blake nodded. “I know a number of ways in, through the abandoned mining tunnels that linked Vale to Mountain Glenn in the first place.”

“Are you _sure_ that's a good idea?”, Nora asked tremulously. “No-one with any sense goes through the mine shafts these days, unless the Grimm emerge from them and a Ranger squadron goes in to put them down.”

“Given how well guarded the mountain pass leading to the valley is, the mine shaft's honestly the safest option,” Blake said. “So long as you move quickly, stay quiet and follow my lead, we should emerge at the northern face of the summit after four hours of travel – from there, a trail takes us to the south-eastern edge of the valley, which is the rear entrance. Once we're there, we'll need to kill every single White Fang operative there – otherwise, they'll kill us _and_ Princess Pyrrha.”

“Noted,” Jaune glumly replied. He and the others were not fond of killing anything that wasn't Grimm, let alone stoking mutual hatred between humans and Faunus, but King Ozpin XI wouldn't care after what had transpired.

“I suggest we leave on the first ferry to Vale City tomorrow morning,” Ruby started. “We might be able to make it to the summit before sundown, rest up there and ambush them when it gets dark.”

Blake snorted. “That won't be much help against a species with night vision, Ruby.”

Ruby grimaced in embarrassment. “True, but we could wait until they're distracted or undermanned because of dinner or something before we grab the princess, rough them up and run for it.”

“That's a fair call,” Blake conceded, “but it's not wise to move back through the shafts or the pass at night, with Grimm being stronger than normal during those hours.”

“So I suggest we'll camp inside the base once the butchery is through,” Jaune decided. “Or alternatively, there may be carriages and horses there that we could commandeer. I've had some experience with horse-riding on difficult terrain, so I could take you all back to Vale when we've found Her Highness and dealt with the White Fang.”

“Both plans are equally viable,” Ren responded thoughtfully, “so I suggest we decide once we're through with the fighting.”

“Fair enough,” Jaune replied. “Anyway, we'll meet up at the docks tomorrow at nine. Shall we synchronise our watches?”

Weiss, Yang and Ruby all produced their fob watches, and synced them up with Jaune's, noting that it was presently half past four in the afternoon. After putting them away, Ruby flagged the waitress down to order a whole hog roast and a round of mead for the table, along with a leg of lamb for Zwei, who was lightly dozing beneath the table.

* * *

The following morning, the swarthy seven fighters convened at the docks, waiting for the first ferry into Vale City. After arranging temporary substitution for Ruby and Nora's northern beat, the two arrived first in full combat regalia with Zwei at their heels. Jaune came a minute later, still wearing the azure armour he'd brought with him. Crocea Mors, his arming sword, hung off of his left hip. Upon his back lay his tower shield, the focusing lens for Jaune's brand of magic, over a small backpack that contained numerous torches, matches and a length of rope.

“Glad to see you two here bright and early,” Jaune said as he approached the pair on the longest pier of the port. “I hope your duties here are getting deputised.”

“They are,” Ruby admitted. “My uncle and dad are respectively a Butchery Blademaster and a Duelling Pugilist, who work the western side of the island. They're taking shifts on the northern face while Nora's parents are managing the west for them, and the army's running patrols on the south coast.”

“Good to hear,” Jaune replied. “It's an absolute godsend to have a garrison on standby for things like this.”

“Quite right,” Nora agreed. “They usually keep watch on the ships that come this way and maintain order within Pervenire itself, but whenever one of us Rangers are injured or called away on business, they always step in to help with the patrols and occasional Grimm culling.”

At that exact moment, while the first ferry of the day began to dock at the harbour, Ren and Yang arrived at the meeting place with Weiss and Blake at their heels. While the two foreign women had their weapons and munitions ready, Ren had simply armed himself with Stormflower, a yew staff of four and a half feet that earned its moniker from its origin; it had been a branch cleaved off of a tree by a bolt of lightning. He also had the foresight to bring a backpack filled with eight water-skins, salted meats and other cooking supplies; even some wineskins were there. Yang, meanwhile, had a pair of leather-lined bronze gauntlets called Ember Celica, which enabled her to punch Grimm and criminals without shattering her fingers.

“Excellent!”, Jaune announced clearly, “we're all here. Let's go to Vale City!”

“Alright!”, Ruby cheered as she and the others followed Jaune onto the boat.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Vale City's southern gates opened, allowing the seven heroes to enter the three-kilometre morass of trees that sat between the capital and the Thornguard Mountains, which ran in a semicircle between the south-western shoreline and Beacon Castle, the ancient holdfast carved from a mountain that lay on the northern promontory of the eastern continent.

The party wasted no time in moving towards the northerly stream that emanated from the abandoned mineshafts. Jaune and Blake were at the lead, Yang and Ruby behind them, while Ren and Weiss brought up the rearguard and Zwei and Nora covered their flanks. Before long, the heroes chanced upon the turgid stream, which regularly hosted prospectors panning for silver and iron nuggets depending on water levels. As the heroes crossed a natural land bridge across the water to the old mine road, Nora tensed up, then growled as she instantly changed into her pink bear form. That was the one warning sign Ruby needed.

“Grimm incoming!”

Thankfully, the horde of Beowolves that emerged from the ridge upstream were juveniles. Not so thankfully, an Ursa was leading them.

“Weapons out!” Jaune cried as he drew his sword. The others quickly followed suit, and waited for the Grimm to bundle down the incline.

As the Ursa arrived, Jaune got between it and the rest of the party. Using his favourite opening play, Jaune lunged forward with his shield and bowled the Ursa into a pair of trees with an Aura-infused dose of _Shield Slam_. A quick swing of his sword hamstrung the ursine beast as it lay prone, and Ruby finished him off with a quick headshot from Waning Crescent.

Yang, Zwei and Nora made short work of the young Beowolves, with Yang's fists blasting holes in the beasts and the claws of Zwei and Nora slicing through their necks like butter. Weiss, meanwhile, took down the few that dared to go near Ren with her sword, and Blake got behind the last of the Beowolves and mowed them down in a pincer movement with Yang and Nora. All in all, the melee lasted a mere minute.

“I was just getting started with that,” Nora moaned upon returning to human form.

“Anyway,” Ren remarked, “allow me to help you.”

Ren promptly cast the most basic spell of the Clergyman; _Soothing Mist_. For ten seconds, a wispy, glittering emerald cloud enveloped the heroes and sped up the healing factor of their auras. When the mist dissipated, their auras were replenished and there were no wounds of any sort upon their bodies.

“Don't do that _too_ often, Ren,” Blake chided. “We're going to need you at full Aura when we arrive at the base.”

“Of course,” Ren affirmed as the group set off again. “With you at the lead, I'm certain we won't need to be in combat again.”

Blake smiled softly for a moment, before her stoic expression returned to roost. “Flatterer,” she muttered as she sheathed her pistol and sword. Ren smiled to himself as he and the others walked up the foothills leading towards the Thornguard Mountains. Before long, the abandoned mine entrance came into view, hewn into the junction of the tallest two mountains on the southern side of the mountain range – Mountain Glenn on the left, and Mountain Dale on the right.

“Remember what I said, friends,” Blake announced as she turned to face the group. “Follow my lead, move quickly, and whatever you do, _don't_ say a word once we're inside.”

The group nodded, readying their weapons as Blake led them into the labyrinth within Mountain Glenn. Onwards they strode, as briskly as their armour and the dilapidated conditions could allow. It was too dark to see conventionally, so Ren used a trivial light spell to help everyone see – except for Blake, who was relying on her natural night-vision to guide her through the endless network of caves and tunnels.

Eventually, Blake found her mark; a reinforced doorway. “Watch my back,” she whispered to the others as she retrieved her lockpicks and began her work.

* * *

As a matter of course, all Corsairs were trained to use misdirection and stealth, and consequently were employed by kingdoms in the role of scouts and spies. Therefore, aspiring Corsairs were taught a gamut of espionage skills before learning combat and magic – and the Corsair's skill level in those areas helped determine their style. Cutpurse Corsairs mastered the arts of lockpicking and pickpocketing, and could channel their Aura into those skills along with their use of guns. Assassin Corsairs were experts at infiltration and poisons, and could synthesise venom and the like through their magic and infuse their daggers with it.

Subterfuge Corsairs like Blake had equal skill in all these areas, being better suited to open combat than the others, and therefore were at a disadvantage due to lacking any magical control over those same skills. Therefore, the other six heroes huddled around Blake as she took her time in disassembling the lock with weapons drawn. Suddenly, a click was heard as Blake unlocked the door. No sooner had she swung it open than an unearthly scream emerged from the depths, that even at a distance blunted the aura of the heroes. Despite it being biologically unlikely, Weiss _paled_ as she recognised the threat.

“Apathy Grimm!”, she hissed in sheer horror.

“The path to the lift's clear!”, Blake called out, not bothering for quietude now. “ _Run_ _for it!_ ”

Jaune and Ren bolted after Blake, with Ruby at their heels. Yang took a trembling Weiss by the hand and dragged her off as well. Nora, bringing up the rear, decided to do something about the encroaching zombie Grimm before they caught sight of the heroes and killed them. While slow-moving, the Apathy could leech a person's Aura completely with their screams, exhausting the victim until they remained unable to move – thus enabling the Apathy to consume their prey. Therefore, Nora reasoned that a well-timed tunnel collapse would stop them _and_ deprive the White Fang of a route into Vale City.

Up ahead, Blake had made it to the lift, opening the carriage for Jaune and Ren to run inside. Ruby took the chance to pinch a crate or two of unused Dust before entering, while Yang and Weiss didn't bother with preamble and jumped. Nora didn't slow down as she approached, but her entry into the lift coincided with an order.

“Don't start the lift until my command!”

“Are you serious?”, Blake asked incredulously.

Nora held Magnhild aloft, imbuing it with Aura until the leaf symbol on the hammerhead glowed green. With a yell, Nora cast _Tremor_ at a location twenty metres down the hallway.

“ _Now_ ,” Nora urged. Blake flicked the switch, and the lift took off. A faint glow of red was all the heroes saw before the rock fall began. While most of the fall was loose shale, enough boulders tumbled down to make life painfully short for the advancing Grimm.

After five minutes, the elevator emerged within a narrow passage, which widened into a cave on the northern side of Mountain Glenn's summit. After passing through, Nora caused the passage to close.

“We can make camp at the cave entrance,” Blake noted. “Let's get some food and rest, then attack the fortress at sundown.”

“Agreed,” Jaune replied.

* * *

**A/N: There we have it.** **One thing I forgot to mention when I released the first chapter is that at the end of the work, I'll be appending a guide to this AU's "character class system" for your perusal.**

**Tune in at the end of February for chapter 3.**


	3. The Gauntlet of the Fang

* * *

Half an hour later, the heroes began to relax. Ren provided a serving of grilled venison marinated in red wine and mild spices, blessing the meal as always to boost Aura regeneration. After the meal, Ruby produced a deck of playing cards from her pocket, and consequently started playing bridge with Nora, Weiss and Jaune while Yang began to meditate and Zwei dozed off. Ren, meanwhile, decided to join Blake in her watch outside.

“I hope that lunch was agreeable to you,” he said on approach.

Blake smiled softly at Ren as he sat astride a boulder. “Indeed, it was. You've got commendable skill for it.”

“You flatter me,” Ren replied gently, but not without a faint blush emerging on his cheeks. “I learned because no-one else in my family could quite master the art of cooking.”

“Including Nora?”

“ _Especially_ Nora,” Ren ruefully replied. “I can’t even look at pancakes without tasting charcoal on my tongue on account of her.”

Blake chuckled. “Sounds better than my father’s tuna mornay. I still like tuna, but I flat-out _refuse_ to eat that dish again.”

“Speaking of,” Ren enquired, “is your father -”

“The Chieftain of Menagerie? Yes.”

“How come you’re working as an Adventurer then? I can’t imagine he’d be happy with that.”

Blake waved it off. “He’s made peace with it. I’m the youngest of his four daughters, but the only one who was born legitimate. But since I have no desire to rule, he legitimised my sisters, knowing full well that at least one of us would be a capable chief in time.”

“ _Ah_ , I see. Whom do you think it will be?”

“Either of my eldest two sisters, Ciara and Jocasta, will get it. Melanie, my third sister, recently became betrothed to the Crown Prince of Vacuo, so that rules her out.”

“At least Vacuo’s got a good view towards Faunus,” Ren noted. “Vale and Mistral have improved significantly over my lifetime, but I suppose the adversity of the deserts makes people less willing to fight over petty things.”

“Indeed,” Blake noted. “Atlas is _slowly_ starting to get better, thanks to James IV. While most of House Ironwood were and are firmly racist towards Faunus, James nearly got torn in half by a pair of Griffons in his youth. His life was saved by a nomadic Faunus tribe west of Mantle.”

“Really? I had wondered why Atlas had stopped cutting off the hands of Faunus for stealing and so on,” Ren admitted. “Maybe things will get even better in our lifetimes.”

Blake smiled as she talked with the quiet, thoughtful Clergyman throughout the calm afternoon. Despite being on the verge of achieving her life’s mission to destroy the White Fang, Blake now found something worth doing after her need for vengeance was sated – or someone, as the case may be. Eventually, as the sun started to decline, she and Ren walked over to the card game their cohorts were partaking in.

“Just quickly, friends,” Ren announced, “Blake and I would like to start planning our assault on Avalon Fortress.”

“Sure thing, Ren,” Ruby chipperly responded. “We'll just finish off this hand and one more first, if that's alright?”

“That's fine,” Blake calmly murmured, a soft smile adorning her features as Ruby and her friends finished off the game. Five minutes later, Yang finished meditating and made her way over to the group.

“What's the plan of attack going to be, Blake?”

“As far as getting inside is concerned,” Blake started, “there are six watchtowers around the keep, with two guards each, and each tower has a horn that's loud enough for the entire White Fang force to hear.”

“Including the back gate, correct?”, Weiss enquired.

“Correct,” Blake affirmed. “One pair on the back gate, two each on the southern and eastern walls, and one on the western wall. Asides from the back gate, the northern side of the keep is naturally protected by the peak of the mountain – but going that way is impossible without being spotted by the watchers.”

“So therefore, the back gate's our only shot,” Jaune concluded.

“Indeed,” Blake confirmed. Suddenly, Ruby raised her hand.

“I have a plan.”

* * *

As sundown descended on Mountain Glenn half an hour later, the heroes skulked towards the back entrance of the keep through a narrow path hewn into the rocks with Blake at the lead. After they reached the last corner before the gate's line of sight, Blake held up a closed fist to signal a stop for the party. As the others caught up with her, Blake turned to face them.

“The gate's guards are yet to change over,” the Corsair whispered, “but I can smell the cooking from here. It won't be long before the gate is unmanned, so draw your weapons and match my pace when I move.”

“Got it,” Jaune replied, before he quietly unsheathed Crocea Mors. Blake turned back to face the path as the others readied their assorted weapons, the Faunus lying flat against the rock face as her feline ears twitched and listened to the sounds coming from a quarter of a mile away.

After five minutes, a bell tolled twice in the distance, and Blake counted to twenty while readying Gambol and Shroud. Upon reaching that number, she _bolted_ to the gate, with Jaune and the others following their colleague post-haste. When she arrived at the gate, Blake used _Acrobatic Leap_ to vault into the guard tower on the left. From there, she wedged the trap door shut before winching the left side of the gate ajar. By the time the relief guardsmen rounded the corner towards their post, all the heroes had made it inside with weapons at the ready. Before either guard could raise the alarm, Ruby headshotted them both.

“Ready, Blake?”, the Tracker asked.

“Always am,” the Corsair smirked before she crept along the western wall with _Feather Foot_ , an ingenious spell that enabled the Corsair to move silently. After reaching a point halfway between the back gate and the western half, Blake used _Acrobatic Leap_ to jump into the western watchtower and cast her mastery spell – _Double Trouble_ – upon the first of the southern towers. Ruby, meanwhile, readied the silencers on Waning Crescent and Scarlet Rose and moved to lock her eyes on the other six guards.

In five seconds, Blake and her double quickly killed four guardsmen in synchronisation, while Ruby cast _Six-Shot Slaughter_ , her mastery spell, and fired half a dozen fatal shots, expertly picking off the other six guardsmen in the same time frame.

“Nice one,” Jaune breathed as he and the remaining heroes muscled into the main courtyard, which was paved and surprisingly neat in appearance. After seeing that every White Fang guard was dead, Blake promptly used _Acrobatic Leap_ to jump through a broken window.

“Now remember,” Ruby reminded, “that Blake's now going in to find the princess. It'll be fifteen minutes before we have to set fire to the keep, on account of Pyrrha not being there.”

Sure enough, Blake made good time sneaking through the keep. With her Aura running just under half strength, the Corsair had foregone the use of _Feather Foot_ and quickly made it to the door of the main hall in under ten minutes.

“Are you sure we should have handed the princess over to this _human_ woman, High Leader?”, a female voice boomed through the door, silencing the general murmuring of the White Fang over dinner.

“Trust me, Sister Ilia,” Adam Taurus rasped in reply, “we stand to gain enough funds from the Mistralian Summoner for an army big enough to take out Vale when the time's right.”

Blake _reeled_ at this news; Summoners were confined to Atlas and the Mistralian port city of Argus by long-standing agreement between the four kingdoms. For theirs was the ability to summon Grimm, inflict plagues and bathe their foes in hellfire.

Furthermore, they and their Mesmer allies had enslaved the Faunus for centuries, resulting in quite a lot of bad blood between the two demographics. The White Fang were formed as a reactionary force against the Summoners and Mesmers, so the idea of them _working_ with a Summoner spelt trouble and raised Blake's hackles.

Not bothering for stealth, Blake jumped through the nearest window and reunited with her cohorts.

“Pyrrha's in Mistral, captured by a Summoner,” she breathed.

Jaune kicked one of the guardsman's corpses. “ _Damn it_ ,” he hissed, before regaining his composure. “The least we can do is kill the White Fang here in vengeance before going off to Mistral.”

“We also found a large wagon and some horses earlier,” Ruby added, “and Yang and Nora have managed to hide them behind the back gate.”

“Good,” Blake replied as the Pugilist and the Naturalist made their way over. “Now, let's bar the doors before setting fire to the keep.”

Without a word, all seven heroes lifted a pair of beams in front of the large pair of doors that marked the entrance to the keep, taking a couple of minutes to haul them over from the stables. Placing them over the doors, the heroes stood back as Nora channelled her Aura into a well-placed _Lava Burst_ on the roof of the wooden structure.

* * *

Five minutes later, Nora Valkyrie was slowly coaxing the fires all over the fortress with trivial wind gusts to ensure that as many White Fang members burned in the inferno, and made sure to guard the area near the cart with Jaune as the Fang tried to escape. Everyone else was holed up in the pagoda, killing all who tried to escape. Finally satisfied with her handiwork, Nora breathed a sigh of relief before a loud yelp signalled an injury to Zwei. Nora ran out around the corner, only to see Yang and Ren bolting from the pagoda, with Zwei in the latter's arms.

“Adam Taurus is in there,” Ren breathed as Nora caught up with him. “He's fighting Ruby, Blake and Weiss, and they're _losing_!”

Nora steeled herself and stared directly at her brother. “Distract him for a minute, and I'll deal with him for good.”

“Right enough,” Ren avowed as he and Yang dashed back into the fray. While Jaune picked up Zwei and took him towards the cart, Nora skulked around the other side of the pagoda as quickly as she could, doing her level best to stick to the shadows and avoid the White Fang members that were in full rout.

Inside, Ruby was kicked against the wall and lay dazed by Adam Taurus, before the bull Faunus repelled a charge from Blake and Weiss by unleashing his mastery spell: _Whirlwind_. While all Blademasters could use it, the effects differed depending on the blade they wielded. Butchery Blademasters used axes or scythes, and their whirlwinds were designed to cause an enemy to quickly bleed out through the wounds they cleaved, while Amazon Blademasters hamstrung and crippled their enemies with their spears and javelins. But Adam was a Swordsmanship Blademaster, and that meant increased damage with each successful sword hit in his whirlwind.

So it was no surprise that after three strikes were parried by Gambol, the fourth strike managed to tear into Blake's abdomen, _narrowly_ missing her kidney and all other vital organs. Blake yelped in agony as the crazed Blademaster roughly yanked out his sword from her side, disgorging a gout of blood that splattered the blade.

“ _NO!!”_ , Ren cried as Yang held him back from suicidally tackling Adam, who began to channel Aura into his sword once again.

He held the blade aloft as he prepared to unleash _Moonslice_ , the ability second only to _Whirlwind_ in terms of Aura cost and difficulty, and unique to Swordsmanship Blademasters. It melted any single vital organ the sword touched, ensuring an instant death.

But as he prepared to plunge the blade through Blake's heart, Adam suddenly lurched forward and tumbled to the ground as he began to scream and convulse in pain, the sword falling away harmlessly. His harsh screams began to deepen in pitch while a _furious_ Nora came into view with her hands outstretched, channelling Aura into a nasty spell. Ren and Ruby both blanched when they realised what Nora was beginning to do.

“ _Run!_ ”, Ruby yelped as Adam's skin began to harden and his horns began to grow larger. Grabbing Blake, Ruby and the rest of the heroes bolted out of the pagoda while Nora unleashed the mastery spell for Druidic Naturalists; _Shapeshift Others_. The spell permanently changed a person's physical and mental state from humanoid to animal, with no hope of reversal outside a well-worded _Alter Reality_ spell from a Mesmer. And while normal humans invariably became chimpanzees, gorillas or orang-utans, any Faunus who got caught in the spell were invariably turned into the animals whose features they sported.

After one agonising minute, Adam Taurus was no more. In his place was an adult bull, which Nora quickly finished off with three blows of Magnhild to the head, the last caving in his skull. Satisfied, the Naturalist staggered out of the burning keep, and found her companions hitching up a large wagon with a pair of horses and loading up crates of supplies – except for Blake, whom Ren was presently healing with _Cure Severe Wounds_. Needless to say, the heroes looked _quite_ disturbed at what had just happened.

“Sorry about the lack of warning,” Nora started, with evident regret in her voice. “I guess the Naturalists kept knowledge of the _Shapeshift Others_ spell under wraps for good reason.”

“Didn't the kingdoms _ban_ that spell a year ago?!”, a visibly queasy Weiss asked as Nora clambered into the back of the wagon.

“Yes, _except_ for high treason,” Ruby replied.

“And I'd say kidnapping the princess counts as that,” Nora concluded as Blake's wounds were stabilised.

Weiss gingerly nodded. “F-fair enough. Just don't do that again; I've seen it happen twice already.”

Nora nodded in concession. “Agreed. I'd hoped I’d never have to resort to that measure – but it was either that or letting him gore Blake again with his sword, and I couldn't let that happen.”

Weiss sighed softly as Jaune and Ruby geed up the horses and the others sat in the cart with weapons drawn. “I suppose you’re right, Nora. Ren, do we have any wine left? I might need it.”

“I dare say we all do,” Ren dryly replied, before retrieving another wineskin as the cart began to leave the hallowed ground. Nora then realised something as Weiss took a hefty swig of the grog.

“Wait, you saw that happen _twice_?”

Weiss nodded. “To Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows, after they tried to kill King James IV by inciting a revolt. The King didn't execute the commoners that fell for Watts, who was a powerful Mesmer, but punishment needed to be meted out. They were publicly transformed into a chimpanzee and a scorpion by a pair of Naturalists, condemned to stay that way for twenty-five years. My father made my sister and I watch it as it happened, and I nearly vomited at the sounds they made.”

“What a foul way to go,” Ruby replied with equal revulsion.

“But neither of them got turned into a chicken, Ruby,” Yang punned.

To the surprise of exactly no-one in earshot, Ruby pistol-whipped her elder sister across the face.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all liked this one.**

**Mid-fic finale is coming next month.**


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